


Osmium

by zorac



Series: Chemistry [5]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Canon Disabled Character, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 23:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12715431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zorac/pseuds/zorac
Summary: I'm the one who hasn't felt a thing below the neck in three years. I'm the one who can barely do anything for myself. I'm the one who's been left behind while everyone else moved on with their lives. I'm the one who's dying. It's not my fucking job to make other people feel better about the shit that's happened to me.Continues the story fromOxygenet al.





	Osmium

**Author's Note:**

> This follows directly on from [Promethium](/works/12551404), but _Oxygen_ is probably the only required reading to make sense of this. Be warned, while there's definitely still some fluff to come in this timeline, today is not that day.

###### Chloe

When Max and Victoria came into my room, I could tell immediately that something had changed between them. They both seemed incapable of keeping the big, goofy grins off their faces, and it was almost like they were glowing with pure happiness. “Looks like somebody got laid last night,” I observed dryly. I’d been expecting this since Kate all but caught them naked in bed together a few days previously.

Max flushed bright red, but Victoria grinned at me. “Yup, I finally kissed goodbye to Maxine’s virginity.”

“I take it you mean that literally?” I enquired, trying – and failing – not to picture it.

“Mmmm-hmmmm,” came her deeply lecherous response. Max’s blush deepened, but she also got a dreamy look in her eyes.

I tried not to be jealous, truly I did, but the crush that had begun with those first unexpected kisses had blossomed into something all-consuming. I envied Victoria for having Max, and Max for having Victoria, and I envied both of them for the physical connection that I would never be able to experience.

“I’m so happy for you guys,” I told them with what little enthusiasm I could muster.

“What, not going to grill us for all the details?” asked Max.

“No, it’s your first time together. That’s special, what you two have is special. I don’t have the right to pry into that.”

Max gave me an odd look. “You’re my best friend. It’s not prying. I want to share the details of my life with you.”

“I’m just not… comfortable with hearing about that.” I silently begged her to just drop it, but Max and Victoria shared a look.

“Look, I really need to get some coffee, and I wanted to catch up with your mom. I’m sure you and Maxine can entertain each other while I’m gone.” Victoria was out of the room before I could formulate a response, leaving me alone to face the inquisition.

“So, what’s really going on, Chloe?”

I could feel the hot tears welling up; I knew she wasn’t going to let it drop until I told her what I didn’t want to admit. “I’m fucking jealous, okay Max? Is that what you want to hear?”

Her eyes widened. “No, of course not!” She seemed to shrink in front of my eyes. “God, how could we be so stupid, rubbing it in your face like that… It’s just, you were okay about Victoria and Sangeeta – you were the one who pressed for details.”

“Yeah, but that was some holiday romance in a far off city – not something that was ever likely to happen to me even if I hadn’t had the accident. But this… a perfectly normal high-school romance? That’s something I could have had.” Then, ever so softly, “that’s something _we_ could have had.”

I could see the pain and guilt etched on her face. “Oh, Chloe, I’m so sorry.” Tenderly, she reached up to wipe away my tears. “If only I’d never left Arcadia Bay… I don’t doubt that we would have been out and proud from day one; Blackwell’s lesbian power couple.” She was crying too. “But that’s not the hand fate dealt us, and I hate that I drew I royal flush when you got stuck with a pair of twos. It’s so fucking unfair!”

Max leaned over the bed and pulled me into a fierce hug. In that moment, I would have given anything to be able to put my arms around her, to feel her body pressed against mine. Instead, I could do nothing but to lie there like a rag doll, my only sensation the feeling of tears running from her cheek onto mine. “Max…” There was a warning tone in my voice, and she pulled back immediately.

“God, I’m such a fuck-up today.” She hung her head, the picture of dejection.

I wanted to reassure her, but there was a small knot of anger inside me. I’m the one who hasn’t felt a thing below the neck in three years. I’m the one who can barely do anything for myself. I’m the one who’s been left behind while everyone else moved on with their lives. I’m the one who’s dying. It’s not my fucking job to make other people feel better about the shit that’s happened to me. I had this sudden, irrational desire to strike out at her.

“If you could go back and change things, make it so that you never left and I never had that accident, would you?”

She looked up at me, looking baffled that I had to ask. “Absolutely! In a heartbeat.”

“Even though it would mean giving up Victoria?”

“I…” her face fell. “That’s not fair; please don’t ask me to choose between the two of you.”

“You can’t always get everything you want, Max. Sometimes you can’t get any of it.” I let that sink in for long moments before, finally, I relented. “You know what? Don’t answer that; I doubt that either option would make me feel any better.” I sighed. “I love you so much, and I love Victoria, and I don’t wish the two of you anything but happiness. It’s just… I don’t have anyone.” My words hung in the air between us, like some unbreakable wall. Eventually, Max found… if not a wrecking ball, then at least a rock hammer.

“You have me. You will always have me,” she promised, “ _and_ Victoria, and William, and Joyce, and Kate.”

I managed a smile. “I know.” Friends… family… not everything I want but, perhaps, everything I need. Either way, not something I felt like talking about any more. In fact I wasn’t really in the mood for company at all. “Look, I’m feeling pretty wiped out…”

“Of course, I’ll let you get some rest.” Max stood up, then bent over to press her lips to mine. “I’ll see you again soon.” I watched her leave, then closed my eyes, hoping desperately that sleep would come.

Thankfully, it did.

* * *

###### Victoria

As I stepped out of Chloe’s room, I felt awfully like I’d lobbed in a grenade and then fled the scene. When I saw Joyce and William hunched over piles of paperwork at the dining table, I could read in their body language that this wasn’t a happier place than the one I’d left. I froze for a moment, until the sound of the door closing behind me caused them to look up, and all three of us forced smiles.

“Oh, hi, Victoria,” said William, “is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Maxine and Chloe just wanted some alone time. I was going to make coffee; would you guys like some too?”

“That sounds great,” William replied.

“I can do that…”

“Don’t you dare, Joyce,” I told her, “I know how many shifts you do at the Two Whales.” She didn’t say anything, but the amount of gratitude in her eyes for such a simple thing worried me. I busied myself in the kitchen. I’d seen the hours that both of them were working, and I had an idea of how much Chloe’s care must be costing them. The Prices were probably going to have to keep working like that for the rest of their lives just to pay off her medical bills.

I took the coffee-pot and three mugs through and set them on the table, pouring us generous portions of the dark nectar before sitting down. “So, how are you guys doing,” I ask them, “and none of that ‘we’re fine’ crap, because I’ll know you’re lying.”

William glanced at Joyce before answering. “It’s no secret that Chloe’s condition has put a huge strain on us…”

“…but it’s not your job to worry about that.”

“I’m sorry, Joyce,” I told her, “but what affects you ultimately affects Chloe, and telling me not to worry about my friend is going to work about as well as me telling you not to worry about your daughter.”

“You care about her very much, don’t you?”

I nodded. “Chloe has a special place in Maxine’s heart that I could never hope to eclipse, and when I decided to embrace that rather than engage in some futile battle for Maxine’s attention, she found a place in my heart too. That’s why I worry that her parents are so busy looking after her that they have no time to look after each other. I’ve only seen you two home together a handful of times since I started coming here. The last thing Chloe needs is for you to burn out; you know she’d blame herself for it.”

“I’m not sure what else we can do, Victoria, we’re barely making ends meet as it is.”

That was when I had an idea. “Look, there’s something I’d like to do for you guys…”

William held up a hand to forestall me. “I know those fancy clothes you wear and that fancy car you drive can’t have been cheap. I don’t begrudge you that, but no matter how much money your family has, we can’t take any of it.”

I smiled at him; the reaction was not unexpected. “I understand that, and besides, what I have access to would only be a drop in the ocean for you. No, what I was thinking is that you two could really use a break, even if it’s just for a couple of days. My family has a cabin on the shore of Lost Lake, up near Mount Hood; I can easily arrange for you to use it for a weekend. It’s a beautiful place, and there’s maid service and everything, so you can just relax.”

“I’m not sure we can accept that,” said William, but he sounded uncertain.

“Yes, you can. It’s no trouble, the place would just be sitting empty otherwise. I think it would be good for you to get away; Maxine and I can look after Chloe while you’re gone.”

Joyce sighed. “You’re right. I can’t remember the last time we got to spend more than a few hours together, let alone somewhere other than this house.” And then she smiled; the most genuine smile I’d seen on her face in weeks. “Thank-you.”

“You’re welcome. Why don’t you have a think about dates, I’ll check if anyone else has booked the cabin, and we can discuss it later in the week.”

William grinned. “Why do I feel like we’re the teenagers and you’re the adult in this conversation?” I was saved from trying to answer that rhetorical question by Maxine coming out of Chloe’s room.

“How did it go?” I asked her.

“Honestly, I’m not sure, Chloe got pretty upset with me. I think I made things worse for her, and I’m not convinced I managed to patch everything up again.” I pulled her into a hug, and she whispered into my ear. “We need to talk, privately.”

“I think I need to take Maxine home,” I told the Prices. “I’ll talk to you in a few days.” We said our goodbyes and headed out to my car. Once we were on the road, I asked Maxine, “so, what’s going on?”

“Chloe did not take our news well. You were definitely right about how serious a thing for me she has, but it was more than just that. There’s an attraction to you too, but mostly it seemed to be the fact that a sex life is something she simply can’t have.”

“That’s not entirely true…” I hesitated, before admitting, “I may have done some research.”

“O-kay, I’m intrigued, but how exactly do we explain _that_ to Joyce and William?”

“Well, it’s possible that I may be arranging for them to go out of town for a weekend, and volunteered us to look after Chloe.”

“You,” she told me, “are an evil, sublime genius. I take it you have a cunning plan?”

“Why, yes, yes I do. So, here’s the idea…”

**Author's Note:**

> ...and that concludes the gratuitous set-up for the next story, the one that made _Oxygen_ the start of a series rather than just a one-shot.


End file.
